The new cabinet is incapable of patching economic failure -- Akahata editorial, October 1 (excerpts)

Indeed, the new cabinet under Prime Minister Koizumi Jun'ichiro seems to be left with no means to deal with Japan's economic failure. This is what we thought when Koizumi's new cabinet was announced.

The cabinet reshuffle indicates that more burdens will be shifted onto the people.

Concerning the minister in charge of the Financial Agency, which was a focus of public attention, former minister Yanagisawa Hakuo was ousted for being 'reluctant' to use taxpayer money for the disposal of the banks' bad loans and was replaced by Takenaka Heizo, who will also stay as minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy.

Since the Koizumi Cabinet was inaugurated 17 months ago, Japan's economy has been aggravated under the Koizumi Cabinet's "structural reform," and is far from achieving a breathing space.

For example, the unemployment rate rose to 5.4 percent this August from 4.8 percent in April 2001. In 2001, the average yearly salary for private sector workers dropped by 70,000 yen (583 dollars) from the previous year. The Tokyo stock average dropped by almost 5,000 yen (41.8 dollars) during the same months, putting heavy pressure on the business sector.

However, as the progress of the cabinet reshuffle showed, the Koizumi Cabinet has been completely incapable of hammering out any effective countermeasures.

As to whether or not public funds should be used for the write-off of bad-loan by banks, they failed to show any evidence supporting the effectiveness of this policy.

Without taking drastic steps to end the recession, no one can end the disposing of bad loans. The injection of public funds into the banks will only mean casting enormous burdens on the public. Koizumi's policy of accelerating the public fund injection is tantamount to cheating the people.

The need now is for the public to join forces to safeguard their living conditions. Especially, the additional 3 trillion yen burden being forced on the people must be stopped immediately. The government must cancel the bad-loans disposal policy that will force many small- and medium-sized companies out of business.

The Japanese Communist Party has published a four-point urgent proposal to deal with the serious economic recession. (end)